


Bulletproof Heart

by orphan_account



Category: Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (Album), My Chemical Romance
Genre: Explicit Language, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-01-05
Updated: 2011-03-21
Packaged: 2017-10-14 10:42:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 10,995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/148391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After listening to the Danger Days album, I decided to make a story to explain in my own terms the world of the Fabulous Killjoys. I based it partially off of what I saw in the "Na Na Na" & "Sing" videos, but I also wanted to prove to one of my friends that I could write a story that wasn't "smut". Comments & reviews are welcome.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Angels Made From Neon

**Author's Note:**

> I'll explain a lot of stuff at the end of each chapter, so no worries!

Somewhere in the California desert. 8 A.M. Present.

“Hey, Luna, check out this shirt I just finished,” Red Herring told me as she held up a white spaghetti-strap t-shirt that had been cut into wide fringes from the waist to mid-riff and then loosely sewn together by thick green string.  
“I want that shirt,” I told her.  
“Of course, Luna Queen, my captain,” Red crooned as she set the she set the shirt on my unmade bed, er, mattress.  
Luna Queen wasn’t my real name, of course, just my codename as a gang member/CO of the Black Widows . We all had codenames to go by unless we were in private discussions.  
“What time is it?” I asked from my seat on a ripped-up caramel lounge chair that was about ten years old and smelled like cigarettes and spilled drinks.  
“Oh! Dr. Death is on!” Red gasped as she spun around in a black roughly stitched-up computer chair and turned on our radio.  
“Good morning, children. I hope you slept well last night even through all the mass chaos that went down in Zone 2 between a D.G. and some exterminators ,” Dr. Death’s voice crackled through the twenty year old turn-dial radio.  
“Do you think it was them? Ray told me they were plannin’ on headin’ to Zone 2 soon,” Red asked me with a worried expression.  
I shook my head in response and put a finger to my lips so we could hear the report.  
“Now, I heard that because of this, that there’ll be a gathering of all D.G. COs at sundown in a secret location. Good thing too because a few members of that D.G. got dusted last night by those Draculoids . So keep your boots tight and your ray gun close because another war might soon be on the horizon. That’s all for the traffic report, talk to you at high noon tumbleweeds,” Dr. Death continued before playing some ridiculous anti-war song.  
“There’s a meeting?” Red asked as she furrowed her brow.  
“Yep, and I hope Gerard shows up on time,” I said grimly.  
“A meeting? Now?” Star-Gazer asked as she entered the room.  
“Yeah.”  
“Damn, and I was gonna wait for Jet to come home,” Star complained.  
“I wanna wait for them too, but COs and SICs have to go to all D.G. meetings, remember ?” I reminded her.  
“When are they coming back?” Jaded Darling asked as she hurried into the room. I could tell that she just got up because her glasses were a little askew and her dark brown pixie-cut hair with purple streaks was sticking up in twenty-nine different directions.  
“Supposed to be today before sundown,” I replied.  
“Good ‘cause I miss them,” Jaded said with a shy smile. I knew what she really meant: I miss Party Poison.  
“Anybody want breakfast?” Red asked us as she got up from her chair, “I’m making pancakes.”  
“No thanks,” Star said apathetically.  
“Sure,” said Jaded.  
“No thank you,” I replied simply.  
Red left the room and Jaded mumbled something about getting dressed before leaving too.  
“Which D.G. do you think got dusted last night?” I asked Star.  
She shrugged as she started running her fingers through her pin-straight, shoulder-length blonde hair.  
“Don’t really care as long as Ray and the other weren’t involved,” she said.  
“I’m sure Gerard wouldn’t drive out there late at night,” I reasoned.  
“Did the report say where the Draculoids got them?”  
“Somewhere in Zone 2.”  
“They must’ve been on their way to Battery City then.”  
“Are you gonna give Ray a nice, big kiss when you see him, Charlotte?” I teased.  
Charlotte blushed and said quickly, “No, but I will kiss him at least.”  
Jet-Star and Star-Gazer were something rare in 2019 California: a couple. They had been dating since their teens and will probably marry after all this BL/IND stuff blew over.  
“I betcha Alexandra’ll give Kobra a tackle-kiss,” I said with a smile.  
“TSH, she probably-”  
“THEY’RE BACK!” Red shouted from the kitchen as a car doors slammed from outside.  
Charlotte and I glanced at each other for a millisecond before we bolted into the living room.  
Red was already kissing Kobra Kid, her boyfriend of three years, while Jaded shyly hugged Party Poison, her secret crush of two years.  
Star practically ran to Jet-Star and gave him a massive hug and then let herself gently be kissed.  
The only unoccupied person was Fun Ghoul, who came over and hugged me softly, his hair brushing against my cheek and neck.  
We parted so I could hug Poison and then Kobra while Red hugged her big brother, Jet.  
When all of us finished our hug-fest, I asked Poison, “Did you get the report?”  
“Yeah, it wasn’t us, obviously, but you and Star can ride with us to the meeting tonight,” he replied.  
“Cool, you know where it is this time?”  
“Yeah.”  
“Last time you got lost,” I pointed out.  
“I know where it is this time! I swear!” Poison said desperately.  
I snickered.  
“Calm down, we have plenty of time to sort that out later.”  
“Yeah, in the meantime, we can have breakfast,” Red chirped.  
“Awesome,” Kobra said excitedly as he, Jet, Ghoul, Star, and Jaded all followed Red into the kitchen like a herd of cattle.  
“You’re not eating?” I asked Poison as he flopped himself down on a plaid loveseat.  
“Nah,” he replied simply as I dragged the lounge chair I was sitting in earlier to sit across from him.  
“So what were you guys doing last night?” I whispered.  
“Avoiding exterminators, as usual, and trying to figure out a plan to wipe-out BL/IND, as usual.”  
“Any luck with that?”  
“Fuck no.”  
I nodded slowly and looked down at my clasped hands. I always worried about them, but never really expressed it much.  
Then we heard someone laughing really loudly from the kitchen.  
“You’ll pay for that, Kobra, you asshole!” shouted the same person in a playful manner. I knew who it was and smiled despite myself.  
“You like him, don’t you?” Poison asked me with an arched eyebrow.  
“What are you talking about, Gerard?” I asked him directly.  
“You know…”  
Before he could finish his sentence, everyone came out of the kitchen with plates of pancakes and each found somewhere to sit.  
As they ate, I glanced at Gerard every so often, only to get a ‘I know your secret’ look in his hazel eyes.  
Did he know? What would he say if he knew the truth? More importantly, what would he do?


	2. Is This Our Destiny?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like last time, there are notes at the end of the chapter.

Somewhere in the California desert. Sundown. Present.

“We’re right on time,” Kobra said as he looked at the Trans-Am’s clock.  
“Finally,” Star sighed as Poison parked the car just out of eyesight.  
“I told you you’d get us lost!” I teased Poison as I also playfully smacked his shoulder while all four of us got out of the car.  
“I can’t help it! I have shitty sense of direction, okay?” Poison said defensively.  
“It’s okay, really,” I told him apologetically as we neared the bonfire someone had started.  
Once we got to the bonfire, we were greeted by the other COs and SICs with nods and nothing more.   
A CO from Zone 6 named Show Pony said, “Guns out and on the ground .”  
We did as told and our ray guns joined the pile.  
“Where’s the Volta?” Show Pony asked the other present D.G.s.  
“Here!” called out a 20-something guy as he and his SIC joined the rest of us.  
His name was Lover-Boy and his SIC was also his girlfriend, Angel-Face. They were friends of both the Fabulous Killjoys and the Black Widows, making-up the Triad Alliance, which was technically against code , but who gives a fuck? We weren’t the only ones doing it.  
“Is everyone here now….good, we can start,” Show Pony said before he stepped back to let another CO from Zone 6 step forward.  
“As you all know, some members of the Suicide Squad were dusted last night in Zone 2,” said the Zone 6 CO, whose codename was Lucifer Knight.  
“Are there any survivors?” asked Butterfly Kill, a CO from Zone 4.  
“Yes, they’re over there,” Show Pony said as he pointed to two shadowy figures just outside of the bonfire’s light.  
“Come forth and show us your faces,” Lucifer Knight called out to them.  
“It’s her,” I hissed under my breath at Star.  
Forget-Me-Not and the other D.G. came forth. Instantly, Forget-Me-Not gave me a twisted sneer.  
We’ve always hated each other for no real reason actually, but we did.  
“Put your guns in the pile,” Show Pony instructed them.  
“Can I shoot someone first?” Forget-Me-Not asked sarcastically as she reached for her gun.  
“No, we are gathered here in peace and you know it,” Lucifer Knight told her sternly.  
“You know that’s a fucking lie as well as I do! We are rival Desert Gangs, we’re not supposed to get along,” Forget-Me-Not raged.  
“That’s true, but we all have a common enemy,” Lucifer Knight pointed out.  
“BL/IND,” Show Pony clarified.  
“We should be worried about our own necks! I don’t give a shit about yours. BL/IND can murder you all for all I care!”  
“We don’t give a fuck about you either,” I snarled at Forget-Me-Not.  
“Don’t do this, Luna,” Poison warned me in a low whisper.   
“You wanna pick a fight bitch? I’ll give you one then!” Forget-Me-Not snarled as she pulled out her gun.  
Everyone ducked as she fired, but I quickly got back to my feet with my gun in hand.  
“You don’t know who you’re fucking with, do you?” I asked her teasingly.  
“A fake bitch.”  
I shook my head and said, “You younger generation make me sick.”  
“Luna,” Kobra whispered.  
“You don’t wanna shoot her right now,” Poison also whispered as he and his brother held onto my arms from behind me.  
Lucifer Knight and Show Pony restrained Forget-Me-Not. I dropped my gun willingly. Her…not so much.  
“Well this is a complete failure, as usual,” Star commented as Lucifer and Pony dragged Forget out of the circle.  
“So, what do we do now?” Lover-Boy asked us.  
“We continue the meeting,” answered Pink Tiger, Show Pony’s SIC.  
“Okay then, what should we do now that BL/IND has attacked and nearly destroyed a D.G.?” Poison asked the other D.G.s.  
“Well, we came across some secretive information that could help us,” said Crashing Phoenix, a CO from Zone 3.  
“It seems that there is a girl about nine-years-old that BL/IND wants their hands on,” added Bone Lion, Phoenix’s SIC.  
“Why do they want this girl?” Kobra asked.  
“That’s the thing, we don’t know,” Lion replied.  
“Wait…she was born after the bombs ,” Star pointed out.  
“That’s right,” Phoenix said.  
“I kinda see why this girl is so important, but what does that have to do with us?” I asked.  
“One of the D.G.s has to go find her and bring her to Dr. Death,” Phoenix explained.  
“What does he have to do with this?” I asked.  
“He’ll keep her safe until we get her out of the Zones ,” Lion replied.  
“But no one knows where Dr. Death is,” Star said.  
“All we know is that he’s in our Zone,” said Blood Moon, a CO from Zone 4.  
“As we all know, Dr. D is very protective of his whereabouts,” Phoenix said.  
“And the only way he directly contacts any D.G. is through Blade Noise ,” Lion added.  
“So who’s gonna recue this girl?” Poison asked.  
“You are,” said Lucifer as he and Pony came back into the circle.  
“You gotta be shitin’ me,” Kobra said under his breath.  
“We decided that the Killjoys are qualified enough to handle this and besides, her last known location was in your Zone,” said Lucifer.  
“Fuck,” I mumbled under my breath.  
This meant Star and Red would be apart from their boyfriends a little longer. This meant Jaded would be apart from Poison longer. This meant I’d have to listen to Red and Jaded mope and bitch around.   
“When do we start?” Poison asked, already giving up on trying to get the mission passed on to someone else.  
“Tomorrow morning,” Pony replied, “you’ll meet up with the Mooninites on the border between your Zone and Zone 4 at midday.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: “Bulletproof Heart”  
>  As a general rule, all COs and SICs at the meetings have to put their ray guns on the ground so it’s less likely for them to wanna shoot each other in “unfriendly fire”  
>  In the D.G. code, it’s against the code to form alliances because they might cause more trouble for other D.G.s and/or might try to dust other D.G.s.  
>  “the bombs” – in 2010 (nine years before this story) BL/IND built & dropped bombs on places around the world, nearly taking out the entire world population. Since there was no government, everyone had to fend for themselves, thus beginning the D.G.s. The reason why this girl is so shocking is because she is the first person that they know of to be born post-bombing in California.  
>  The Zones = there are (unofficially) 6 Zones with one or two D.G.s in each one. (I’ll put a diagram at the end of this chapter).  
>  Blade Noise is Dr. Death’s messenger. I gave him/her this name on my own accord. You see him/her briefly in the “Na, Na, Na” video giving Dr. D’s message.


	3. For the World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes at end of chapter.

Somewhere in Zone 5. 9:00 A.M. The Next Morning.

“Wake up, Luna,” a voice urged me as they also gently shook me.  
“Huh?”  
“We’re getting ready to leave,” said the voice.  
I opened my eyes to see Ghoul looking down on me. Not a bad wake-up call.  
“Now? You guys don’t have to be there ‘til noon,” I told him as I sat up.  
“It takes a good hour to get to the border and besides, we need to fuel up the Trams-Am and I need to look under the hood ,” Ghoul explained.  
“Oh, okay…did you eat?”  
“Yeah, Alexandra made us French toast…it was awesome. Mikey’s lucky to have a cook for a girlfriend.”  
“I hope you guys are careful, we don’t need another D.G. war breaking out,” I said as I let myself get serious.  
“Don’t worry, my temper is better than it used to be,” Ghoul told me with a hollow smile.  
Oh Ghoul…there was a time when you were a total contradiction of your codename…back eight years ago before you were a part of the Killjoys.

Somewhere in Zone 1. 3:23 P.M. Eight Years ago.

“Everybody take cover!” Lover-Boy yelled during the crossfire.  
All of us either dove or rolled out of the way.  
It’s only been a year since the bombs, but already we’re in post-apocalyptic mayhem. These kinds of things shouldn’t be happening.  
I couldn’t see Jaded or Star through all the smoke and bullets, so I crouched lower behind these boxes.  
I hated this life. I remember what it was like before the bombs, when I didn’t have to worry about disinfecting my leg ASAP after a bullet went through to make sure I don’t need an amputation.  
Gun in hand, I quickly peek over my barrier to see who I could find. I couldn’t see anyone. Not Star, Angel-Face, Lover-Boy, Poison, or Kobra.   
Fuck.  
I went back down and heard someone groan.  
Looking down to my left, I saw a 20-something guy with black hair and a ray gun in his hand flat on his back. He had a wound in his left thigh that was bleeding.  
Double fuck.  
I ripped off some of the shirt I was wearing and started applying pressure to his wound. I started tapping his cheeks with my left hand to see if I could get him to wake up.  
With no such luck, I used my left hand to get the ray gun out of his hand.  
His eyes opened up and looked at me.  
“Am I dead?” he asked in a rough voice.  
“No, just wounded,” I told him as I applied more pressure with my right hand. I could feel the blood seeping through the cotton material.  
“I should be dead,” he told me as he grabbed the gun out of my hand and put it to his head.  
“No!” I shouted as I slammed his arm down with both of my arms while the rest of my body laid on top of him.  
At that, he passed out and I pried the gun from his fingers.  
I was shaking, even after the crossfire had ended and my friends found me.  
“What’s the matter with you?” Star asked me.  
“He wants to die,” I whispered as Poison, Kobra, and Lover-Boy picked up the guy and started carrying him to the Trams-Am.  
“Poor thing,” Angel commented.

Somewhere in Zone 5. 5:00 P.M. Present Day.

“They’ve been gone four days ,” Red complained as she flopped down on the loveseat, joining Star.  
“They’ll be back and they’ll call us if they need anything,” I told her for the millionth time.  
“I’m not worried,” Star admitted, “I know they’ll come back safe.”  
“They’re gonna have scarecrows after them,” Jaded mumbled from her place in the computer chair.  
“They can handle it, I don’t know why you guys are worried so much,” Star said.  
“Well, when you’re Darling over here, you want them to live so she can tell Parry Poison how she really feels about him,” I said with a smirk.  
Jaded blushed as red as Red’s hair.  
“He’ll be back, trust me,” I told Jaded as I sat down in the lounge chair.  
“So what do we do now?” Red asked.  
“Listen to Dr. Death, wait for a message, and fix whatever needs fixing,” I replied.  
“And make sure we don’t get our asses dusted,” Star added apathetically.  
“Right.”

9:00 P.M.

“Hey, Charlotte?” I said.  
Alexandra and Karen went to bed a few hours ago, but Charlotte and I were restless. So, we decided to hang out on the front steps of our run-down house in the middle of nowhere.  
“What?”  
“I think I’m gonna tell him when they come back,” I said.  
“Finally, jeez, you’ve only been in love with him for eight years,” Charlotte said with a hint of sarcasm.  
“S.T.F.U. , I have not,” I told her, trying to be angry, but failing miserably. The blush on my face also betrayed me.  
“I’m just glad you’re finally going to tell him, God knows you stare at him with ‘rape me’ eyes when he’s not looking,” Charlotte said with a smile on her face.  
“I do not!” I snapped, again failing in trying to sound pissed.  
“Whatever, just keep your smut away from me and we’re good,” Charlotte said with a wave of her hand.  
“Why I ever chose you to be my SIC is beyond me,” I said as I rubbed my face in my hands.  
“Why I ever let you be CO is beyond anyone,” Charlotte teased.  
I playfully smacked her right upper arm and she started laughing.  
“Ah, you’re still the same even after high school, good to know that you always take things so seriously.”  
“Whatever,” I sighed in defeat.  
“I have a feeling they’ll be here tomorrow before breakfast and if not, we’re gonna go find them.”  
“Since when did you give orders?” I asked sarcastically.  
”Since you became incapable of making executive decisions,” Charlotte replied with equal sarcasm.  
I laughed and said, “Okay, if they’re not here before lunch, we’ll start looking for them. How does that sound?”  
“Sounds good to me, my captain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title: “Sing”  
>  From what I got out of the “Na, Na, Na” video, Ghoul knows a thing or two about cars.  
>  We don’t really know how long they were gone, so I just made it four days.


	4. Who They Want You To Be

Somewhere in Zone 5. The Next Morning. 10:00 A.M.

I woke up to the semi-familiar sound of slamming car doors.  
Bolting straight outta my bed, I didn’t even bother putting on my boots; I just ran outside in my ripped, faded jeans and equally ripped black and blue lace tank top.  
Star, Red, and Jaded were following close behind as we ran to our boys.  
“Are you guys okay?” I asked Poison as I approached him. All of them looked like hell.  
“We found her and then lost her,” Poison stated simply.  
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jaded asked him.  
“It means BL/IND found us and got the girl,” Kobra answered while he tightly embraced Red.  
“What happened to your eye?” Star asked Jet worriedly as she stared at his right eye that now had a patch over it.  
“Scarecrows,” Jet stated.  
“All of us got injured,” Ghoul added as he sat on the hood of the Trans-Am with a look of agony on his face.  
“What happened to you?” I asked as I went over to him.  
“Fuckin’ lasers got to my left calf, it burns like hell,” Ghoul told me as he rolled up his pants leg.  
I gasped and stared at the charred flesh around where the lasers got him. Plus, it was starting to get infected.  
“You’ll have to get it amputated,” Jaded told Ghoul grimly.  
“What?!” Ghoul and I both snapped.  
“Your skin is beyond third degree burns and it’s infected badly, so you’ll have to get it amputated,” Jaded explained.  
It was a good thing we had her since she was a nurse before the bombs.  
“The closest hospital is in Zone 4,” Poison said stoically.  
“Close to the border, thankfully,” Kobra added.  
“Okay, then who needs to go to the hospital?” Jaded asked all of us.  
“Ghoul and Jet,” Red answered.  
“I’m going too,” Star and I said simultaneously.  
“There’s only four seats in the car,” Poison growled.  
“I can drive!” Star snapped.  
“Fine,” Poison sighed as he tossed her the keys.

Hospital in Zone 4. 3:00 P.M.

Charlotte and I were restless the entire time our boys were in surgery. I even started pacing.  
“At least they’re not dying,” Charlotte said.  
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” I whined.  
“It doesn’t make me feel better either,” Charlotte sighed.  
I sat down in my chair beside her’s and whispered, “I bet you two’ll fuck your brains out when we get home, right?”  
Charlotte blushed, but replied, “You know we will.”  
“I wonder is now’ll be a good time to tell Frankie my feelings?” I sighed.  
“Just do it already so you don’t have to keep asking me like I’m some all-knowing love goddess.”  
“More like smut goddess,” I teased.  
“Oh whatever! You’re the smut goddess.”  
While we laughed, a surgeon came out from behind a pair of swinging doors and over to us.  
“Both of them made it through surgery without complications, you came see them now,” he told us.  
“Thank you,” I told him quickly before Charlotte and I both bolted to the room the surgeon directed us to.

3:12 P.M.

“I got a new badass leg: it shoots fuckin’ lasers!” Ghoul told me excitedly, like a little kid at Christmas.  
“So what? My new eyes shoots lasers too, asshole!” Jet countered from his bed nearby.  
“Awesome! Laser appendages!” Star giggled. I giggled too until I looked at Ghoul again.  
He still looked flushed and I saw him flinch in pain.  
I felt like an idiot. I knew this wasn’t my fault, but I still felt guilty.  
Ghoul placed his right hand on my left shoulder and squeezed gently.  
“Don’t feel bad for me,” he murmured, “It’s my fault ‘cause I’m an idiot.”  
Maybe I was the idiot. I could’ve lost him today without even telling him my feelings all because I was chickenshit.   
“We’ll be outta here in the morning, so no worries until we get home,” Ghoul added.  
Trouble was; I was only filled with worry, guilt, and love for him alone.  
“In the meantime, why don’t you tell me story about your life before the bombs?” Ghoul asked me.  
I didn’t see why not. So, I slipped off my shoes and laid in the bed next to him. Star and Jet were already curled up together on Jet’s bed, whispering tender (or naughty) things to each other.  
“Okay,” I sighed, “I’ll tell you how I met Star.”

Nine years ago. A private high school in Los Angeles, California.

“What’s your name?” I asked a girl with pin-straight blonde hair and ice blue eyes.  
“You tell me yours first,” she replied.  
“January.”  
She looked at me sceptically and said, “Are you shitin’ me?”  
I shook me head vigorously and said, “No, really and I was born in April.”  
“Huh…that’s interesting. My name’s Charlotte and I’m a senior,” she said as she messed with her school tie.  
“I’m a junior…what’re you into?”  
“Anything that’s not smut and/or annoying bitches related. I also like RPGing, Harry Potter, Anne Rice novels, Johnny Deep, and Batman. What about you?”  
“I like art, the supernatural, scaring people, reading, chibis, anime, and Johnny Deep.”  
“What about smut?”  
“I like smut,” I replied with a cheeky grin.  
Charlotte gave me one of her own before saying, “Why don’t we go scare some people in the library?”  
I adjusted my tie and said, “Fuck yeah, let’s go!”

Hospital in Zone 4. 4:27 P.M. Present Day.

When I finished telling the story, Ghoul was fast asleep. He looked like one of those chibis I liked so much.  
I threw a glance over at Star and Jet, who were also asleep.  
Guess I need to sleep too.  
So, I shifted my body to that I was as close in line with Ghoul’s body as much as possible.  
I didn’t curls too close to him in case he woke up and started freaking out. Instead, I got close enough to start to feel the heat coming off of him.  
I thought of how I really should tell him, but I also had to think of a plan to find that damned kid that caused two of the Killjoys to need surgery.  
She better be very fuckin’ thankful when we save her.


	5. Where We Belong

Somewhere in Zone 5. The Next Day. 9:00 A.M. Present Day.

“Okay, so, do we have an idea on where this kid is?” I asked Poison from my seat in a green wing chair.  
“The Mooninites told us that BL/IND was spotted taking the kid out to Zone 2,” Poison replied with a stern look on his face.  
“Shit, all the way to Battery City,” I muttered.  
“That’s what I thought too.”  
“So what do we do now?” Star asked apathetically.  
“You aren’t doing anything, we are going to BL/IND ourselves,” Jet told her.  
“Oh hell no,” Star snapped.  
“You’ll get killed!” I snapped at Poison.  
“It’s our mission and we need to fulfil it,” Poison said in monotone.  
“I should punch you in the fuckin’ face if you think you guys are going alone,” I growled at him.  
“It’s suicide!” Red pleaded with Kobra.  
“Maybe it is, but we have to do what’s right,” Kobra said to his girlfriend.   
“What’s right is us and the Volta coming along too so we have a better chance,” I sneered.  
“It’s too dangerous,” Poison said.  
“Oh fuck you, this whole life is too dangerous,” I snapped.  
“No one asked for this,” Poison growled.  
“And us girls didn’t ask for the ones we love to leave us to go who-knows-where and wonder whether you’ll come home in the car or in body bags!” Jaded cried to him.  
Everyone fell silent, except for Jaded and Red, who were working their waterworks.  
I looked at everyone’s faces: Poison, Star, Jet, Kobra, Red, Jaded, and finally Ghoul. He looked frazzled, which was worrisome since he just got out of the hospital.  
“When are you leaving?” The question was directed at all four of the Killjoys, but it was Ghoul who answered me.  
“Tomorrow.”  
“You need your rest. Jet needs his rest. Both of you just got out of the hospital yesterday,” I told him quietly.  
He gave me a cocky smile, which made my stomach flip, and replied, “Don’t worry, I’ve been through worse than a night with no sleep.”  
I won’t get any sleep if he leaves.  
“Just…be careful, all of you,” I said quietly before retiring to my room where I buried my face into a pillow and sobbed.

Somewhere in Zone 3. Seven Years Ago. 10:30 A.M.

I first realized my feelings for Ghoul when we were caught in crossfire. It was the Killjoys/Black Widows against Suicide Squad (which had Forget-Me-Not as the SIC).  
Me and him were hiding behind a burned-out car from years past without knowing where the rest of our gang was.  
We were taking turns coming up, shoot a few times, and the ducking back down.  
Then, a bullet hit my left arm and I dropped my gun.  
Crouching back down, I gripped my arm in sheer pain and felt tears stinging my eyes.  
Ghoul saw this and shook my right shoulder, which got my attention.  
“Luna, I’m gonna kill these motherfuckers for you, ‘ight?” he yelled over the crossfire and other voices.  
I simply nodded because I couldn’t verbally respond.  
I watched as he stood, shot, crouched, and repeated. I never had anyone willing to protect me before, I always had to protect myself…

Somewhere in Zone 5. 11:26 A.M.

I was shaken awake by some asshole and was about to hit them until I saw who it was.  
“Jaded? What’s wrong?” I murmured.  
She bit her bottom lip, a nervous habit me and her shared, and replied, “I’m scared…what if they don’t come back?”  
There was nothing I could say to ease her or me, but I would say something.  
“Listen, the harsh, shitty reality is that they have a chance in hell of all of them making it out alive.”  
Karen nodded and I patted her right shoulder.  
“You can tell Gerard before they leave, ‘kay?”  
She started blushing like crazy and whispered, “Only if you tell Fun Ghoul.”  
I sighed and told her honestly, “I’m as terrified as you are about confessing my feelings, so it’s not gonna be easy-peasy.”  
“You and Charlotte are the bravest girls I’ve ever known…”  
“We all have our weak moments and mine always happen when I see that Ghoul is hurt.”  
“You never call Ghoul by his real name, even in private,” Karen pointed out, “So I don’t even know what his name is!”  
I smiled a little sadly at her and said, “It’s Frank Iero.”  
“I didn’t need to know his last name, but thanks for telling me anyway.”  
“Nobody ever says their last name,” I sighed.  
“Mine’s Britt.”  
I nodded and said, “Mine’s Priestly and Charlotte’s is Beatty.”  
Karen giggled, “Charlotte’s is funny.”  
I giggled too and whispered, “Don’t tell her that, I don’t know what all she’s capable of. Besides, I think Toro fits her better.”  
“Is that Ray and Alexandra’s last name?”  
“Yep, and Gerard and Mikey’s is Way.”  
“I hate this kind of life,” Karen said as she got serious again.  
“I do too, but at least we’re still living,” I sighed before I leaned over and adjusted her glasses back on her nose.  
“Thank you, for everything.”  
I just nodded. I wasn’t really used to being thanked either.


	6. I Got The Answer

Somewhere in Zone 5. Eight Years Ago. 6:27 P.M.

“God this fucking sucks,” I whispered to myself as I ducked behind a mysterious white Trams-Am that I don’t remember begin there five minutes ago.  
Stupid crossfire! I had never really been one for violence, but me and Charlotte needed to survive, so I threw that out the window a year ago.  
Speaking of Charlotte…where the hell was she?  
I quickly peeked over my hiding spot and ducked back down without seeing where she was.  
“Hey, are you a part of Beautiful Promises?” asked a voice from my left side.  
I turned my head to see a guy about my age with a shock of almost ridiculous red hair beside me.  
“I’m not in a gang,” I told him.  
He nodded and said, “Me neither, I just know I don’t like that gang.”  
Both of us got up, shot a few times, and quickly ducked.  
“You didn’t hit a blonde girl yet, have you?” I was really worried about Charlotte.  
“Nah, she’s hiding with my brother behind those garbage cans.”  
Thank God.  
“I’m Party Poison, also known as Gerard.”  
“Luna Queen, also known as January.”  
“Pleased to meet you.”  
“Same here, though I wish it were different circumstances.”  
“Can’t disagree with you there.”

Somewhere in Zone 5. Present Day. 7:00 A.M.

This time, I was gently shaken awake.  
“Huh?” I slurred.  
“Say goodbye, they’re leaving,” Alexandra whispered to me.  
I got out of bed fast as quicksilver and speed-walked outside in my black tank top with purple lace trim and ripped jeans, not even bothering putting on my boots.  
“I still think this is your worst idea ever,” I told Poison.  
“Well good morning to you too,” he said with a sickly sweet smile.  
“Don’t worry Luna, Lover-Boy and Angel-Face will help out if things get shitty,” Kobra reassured me while Red went over to him.  
“Which is bound to happen,” Jet added while Star was sucking on his neck.  
“If I hear that you guys went into BL/IND like you own the place, I will kick all of your asses!” I told them, though it was an empty threat.  
I went over to Ghoul, who was on the hood of the Trans-Am, and sat beside him.  
“How’s you leg doing?” I asked quietly.  
“It doesn’t really hurt anymore, though apparently, Star uses it as a bottle opener and Poison uses it as a cigarette lighter.”  
I giggled softly and said, “We can uses Jet’s eye to play Catch the Fairy with Kobra.”  
Ghoul laughed and then whispered, “That’s why ‘Kid’ is in his codename, he has the heart of one. I mean, the guy is in his mid-twenties and likes unicorns.”  
I laughed and said, “Yeah, I saw a stuffed unicorn on his bedroll at your place.”  
Ghoul nodded as he took his green gun out of his shoulder holster and started running his fingers over it.  
“I always forget what color your gun is,” he mumbled.  
“Sea foam green,” I replied softly. Star’s was teal, Red’s was a blood red (who would’ve thought?), and Jaded’s was purple.  
Ghoul nodded.  
“Time to go,” Poison said.  
Damn…now would be a good time.  
Ghoul placed his gun back in the holster and we both slid off the hood and planted our feet on the ground.  
I took a deep breath as the girls took turns hugging each Killjoy with Star and Red kissing their corresponding boyfriends.  
I hugged Poison, then Kobra, then Jet. Finally, I faced Ghoul.  
I took another deep breath. Here goes…  
“Frank,” I said in a very low whisper while the other Killjoys got in the car. I knew I was breaking a rule, but I stopped caring when I woke up this morning.  
He hugged me, which was the best hug ever, like it was the first one…or the last one.  
“See you later, my Queen,” he whispered as Poison started the car.  
He pulled away and turned around to go to his seat on the other side of the car.  
“Wait,” I said quietly as I gripped the back of his leather vest.  
He stopped and turned back to me.  
For a second, my throat was dry and I couldn’t form words.  
Then I said, “Be careful…I want to see you come home in one piece.”  
Ghoul smiled at me and said, “You know that’s impossible.”  
Then before I could say more, he went around the car and jumped into his seat. Poison sifted the car into DRIVE and took off into the desert horizon, leaving me behind to silently cry…again.

12:00 P.M.

“You didn’t tell him, did you?” Charlotte asked me later when she came into my room.  
My eyes were still red and swollen from crying so much and I looked like hell.  
“I didn’t get a chance to,” I replied, my voice scratchy.  
“Dr. Death is on,” Charlotte said as she stood up from the foot of my bed and turned up the radio.  
“Bad news, motorbabies, it seems that the Killjoys have gotten themselves into a massive crossfire with exterminators in Battery City and have been killed. Those boys fought bravely and we salute them for keepin’ the music alive for us tumbleweeds. That’s all for now on the traffic report. Keep the music alive motorbabies,” Dr. Death’s voice rang out.  
Instantly, Charlotte and I heard Karen scream, “NO!”  
Charlotte and I ran to red’s room, where she was in the fettle position and clutching her pillow like it was a life raft.  
I went down to sit beside her with tears coming down my face. I couldn’t say anything to her.  
“I didn’t even get to tell him!” she wailed.  
I knew how she felt.  
“I didn’t either,” I whispered.  
I could feel Star watching us silently, though I knew she was heartbroken herself.  
Suddenly, Red’s voice rang out,” They’re not dead!”  
What the hell? Did she go crazy too? She had said it with such conviction…  
“You crazy bitch! Did you not hear what Dr. D said?!” Jaded screamed.  
“She’s not wrong, Jaded Darling,” said a slightly unfamiliar voice.  
Red came into the room along with Lucifer Knight and Show Pony.  
“What do you want?” Star asked the guys.  
“Blade Noise told us what actually happened in Battery City,” Show Pony replied.  
“The Killjoys are not dead,” Lucifer Knight added.  
A glimmer of hope busted into flames in my heart.  
Frankie…  
“Then what happened?” Star asked.  
“Did you notice how Dr. Death said ‘killed’ instead of ‘dusted’ or ‘ghosted’?” Lucifer asked us.  
I nodded.  
“It was a signal for the Volta to come help them in case they were gonna be captured. Somebody had to save the kid if they couldn’t,” Lucifer explained.  
That little bitch…  
“Great, now they’re captured?” Jaded asked bitterly.  
“What made you decide to come over here and tell us this?” I asked Lucifer and Pony quickly.  
“Well, your gang is tied to theirs, so it’s natural that you’d want to go rescue your friends,” Pony replied.  
“We never hated them anyway, we actually like them,” Lucifer added.  
“I wish all the gangs could say that to each other, then there’d be no war,” Red said quietly.  
Lucifer smiled at her and said, “I wish that too.”  
“So what’s the plan” Star asked.  
“Us six are gonna save your boys,” Pony replied.  
“Then let’s go now!” I said as I got up off the bed and started going over to my room.  
“Don’t you think we need a plan?” Red asked me.  
I stopped and said, “Okay, Step one: Drive to BL/IND. Step two: Shoot our way through the whole damned building to find our boys. Step three: Get the fuck outta Dodge. Is that a good enough plan for yea?”  
Lucifer chuckled as Pony turned a few shades of red. Star muffled her laugh as Jaded and Red looked at me wary.   
Whatever, all I cared about was getting all my friends home safely. But even before that, my main thing was to see Frank smile and tell me that he’ll ‘kill these motherfuckers’ for me.  
I just hope that they weren’t killed after BL/IND captured them, ‘cause that would suck for everyone.


	7. Chapter 7: We can Live Forever

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry that this took such a long time! XD

Battery City, Zone 2. 6:00 P.M.

After shooting our way to the holding cells, we all split up to find each Killjoy.  
Star-Gazer went looking for Jet-Star. Red Herring and Lucifer Knight went looking for Kobra Kid. Jaded Darling and Show Pony searched for Party Poison. Obviously, I went looking for Fun Ghoul.  
Searching for one person in BL/IND is way harder than some arrogant second generation D.G. members thinks it is.   
For one, I had to hide a lot. Second, if I couldn’t hide, I had to take on at least three Draculoids at one time. Then, I also had to figure out where the hell these pricks could’ve stuck Frankie.

While running, I ran into Jaded and Pony.  
“This is a fucking maze!” I shouted at them while we shot at scarecrows and Dracs alike.  
“They might be on the next floor up!” Pony shouted back at me.  
At that, the tree of us stared running up the nearest staircase with Pony covering mine and Jaded’s backs.

We had made it to the third floor of the building and immediately split off to conquer the three hallways.  
I ran down the centre hall and stopped at the next-to-last one on the left side. I had no idea why I stopped at this particular one until I peeked inside.  
“Frankie,” I breathed on the small bulletproof window in the steel door.  
I could see him sitting in a white room in a white t-shirt and pants. He looked half-asleep, so I banged on the window.  
“Ghoul!” I called out to him.  
At the second shout and bang, he looked up and smiled at me.  
“Hold on!” I shouted as I stood back and shot the control panel, causing the door to slide open.  
He ran to me and I handed him an extra blaster that I hijacked out of a vending machine in Zone 6.  
“Good to see you, my Queen,” he said with a cocky smile, “Took you long enough.”  
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.  
His expression softened and he said, “Come closer.”  
Intrigued, I leaned down until I was nearly eye level with him.  
Ghoul placed his free hand behind my head and pulled me down lower until our lips touched.  
All sorts of feelings went through me in a firestorm: love, excitement, fear, lust, surprise…  
He was an amazing kisser, not that I’ve been kissed enough to be able to judge.  
Our tongues slid hot and wet together in a dance that could ignite everything.  
Then Frank pulled back a little and whispered, “Goodbye, January Priestly.”  
Breathe escaped from my lips.  
I never told Frank my last name…  
I stared at him as he pressed his blaster, the one I had given him, to my abdomen and shot…all with the smile I loved so much on his lips.  
The emotions hit me hard, like my body hitting the white tiled floor: hurt, anger, surprise, devastation, betrayal…

Somewhere in Zone 3. Four Years Ago. 8:00 P.M.

“Hey, Luna! Come dance with us!” Red called out to me as she, Jaded, Star, Lover-Boy, and Angel-Face headed to the dance floor.  
I wasn’t a dancer, not by any chance in hell. But the Killjoys were playing tonight in front of a packed crowd, so how could I refuse?  
I smiled to myself as I joined my friends and comrades in a whirlwind of fast-paced dancing to the equally fast-paced song “Party Poison”.  
“Sing along!” Angel-Face shouted at me.  
She didn’t have to tell me twice. I could sing, dance, and watch Frankie all at once. I had practically made it an art form.  
“This ain’t a party. Get off the dance floor. You want to get down? Here comes the gang war. You’re doin’ alright. I got the answer. ‘Cause all the good times, they give you cancer,” We all sang.  
Frank looked like some kind of god as he shredded on his guitar with his long hair lightly veiling his face.   
I was so tempted to go onto the small stage to brush back his hair just to see his face, but I didn’t do it.  
Instead, I continued watching him with a little, secret smile on playing on my lips.

Battery City, Zone 2. ??? Present Day.

When I came to, I found myself in a white room, exactly like the one Frank was in.  
Frank…  
“Luna!” a voice quietly gasped form my left.  
I shifted to look straight at Party Poison, who was in the same white outfit Frank had been in.  
“Am I dead?” I asked stupidly.  
“No,” Gerard stated before crawling over to hug me, “Thought you was.”  
“I did too,” I whispered before hugging him back. He felt so warm and secure, like always, but it didn’t help my broken heart.  
When we parted, I said, “He shot me…”  
“Who?”  
“Fun Ghoul.”  
Gerard didn’t want to believe me, I knew he didn’t want to.  
“Why?”  
“I don’t know. He just…kissed me and then shot me. He knew my name…”  
Gerard’s hazel eye grew wide before he turned away from me and muttered, “I was afraid this would happen.”  
“What, Poison?” I asked, more hurt than anything. I mean, Frank shot me.  
“The Sad Man got Ghoul to break down and tell him his name so that they could turn him. He’s not Fun Ghoul anymore, he’s a Draculoid,” Gerard explained in a sad tone.  
No…  
“Dammit! You mean to tell me that these pricks turned him against us?!” I shouted.  
“You have to calm down so they won’t rush to get here. They’ll get you too now that they know your name,” Gerard warned me.  
I looked down to find myself in a white mid-thigh ruffle skirt and a white t-shirt. I never felt so slutty in my life.  
“Did you breakdown yet?” I asked bitterly.  
“No, but I’m not sure about Kobra and Jet…did you come here by yourself?”  
“The girls came along with Lucifer Knight and Show Pony. I came up the third floor with Jaded and Pony,” I explained.  
Gerard sighed as he ran his fingers through his bright red hair.  
“You shouldn’t have come here…” he began,  
“Bullshit, you knew we’d come because we told you so. Now, any plans, Sherlock?” I asked sarcastically.  
“No, because there’s nothing we can do unless the others come for us,” Gerard stated, not fazed by my rant.  
I leaned against his right shoulder and sighed.  
“So, we wait then?”  
“Yep.”  
“What do we do about Frank?” I couldn’t help but ask.  
“You know the answer to that.”  
I was scared of the answer…


	8. Chapter 8: When the Sunlight Dies

Battery City, Zone 2. ???

After what felt like hours-but was probably minutes-passed, Gerard suddenly spoke up.  
“I know Jaded likes me,” he said quietly.  
I trill of surprise went through me. Maybe if we all get out of here alive, they could have some sort of happiness together-  
“But I don’t feel the same for her,” Gerard added.  
Oh…shit…Jaded’s gonna be upset when she hears this…  
“If I don’t make it, don’t tell her. It’ll only ruin her more,” Gerard told me sternly.  
I nodded slightly.

Suddenly, we heard shouting and gunfire outside our door.  
We stood up hurriedly just in time to find our door sliding open.  
“C’mon, dammit! We gotta get outta here!” Jet-Star shouted to us as he and Star tossed us blasters.  
Poison and I caught them and joined our friends.  
“Man am I glad to see you,” I told Star as I began joining the fire fight.  
“Thank me later.”

We ran and shot our way downstairs, leaving behind corpses of Draculoids and Scarecrows in our wake.  
“Where’s Ghoul?” Jet asked me.  
A sharp pang stabbed through my chest at the mention of him.  
“Turned,” Poison stated simply with a grim look on his face.  
“Shit,” Jet said under his breath.  
“Where are the others?” I asked the couple.  
“Here!” shouted Lucifer Knight as he ran towards us with Kobra Kid and Red Herring trailing behind him.  
At that same second, Show Pony and Jaded Darling came at us from the other side.  
“Where’s Fun Ghoul?” they all asked me.   
I couldn’t answer them, so I let Poison do it.  
They all looked somber upon hearing the news.

We continued making our way downstairs until we reached the first floor.  
“Where the hell are they coming from?!” Red shouted as she and Kobra teamed up back-to-back.  
“They never run out,” Pony stated as he and Jaded paired up.  
“We need to look for the Sad Man,” Poison shouted as me and him paired up too.  
“Any clue where, genius?” Star asked sarcastically as she and Jet took down Dracs together. How romantic…  
“Why the fuck is everyone on my case today?!” Poison asked, clearly irritated.  
“Ask later!” Kobra shouted at his brother.

Out of nowhere, a shot hit Kobra’s right arm.  
“Damn!” he shouted as he quickly switched hands, but too late.  
Another shot hit him in his chest, a few inches below his heart and he collapsed.  
“Mikey!” Red shouted as she crouched beside her boyfriend.  
“Red!” I shouted at her.  
She was crying as she tried to stop Kobra’s bleeding, but it was of no use.  
He was dead.

“Mikey!” I heard Poison shout.  
Red was crying so hard that she hardly noticed as a Scarecrow came up behind her and pressed a blaster to her head.  
I knew she could feel it there, but I think she was ready to die.  
I closed my eyes when the Scarecrow pulled the trigger.

I lost two friends/comrades.   
Jet lost a sister and a friend/comrade.  
Poison lost a brother and a friend/comrade.  
What now?


	9. Chapter 9: Anytime You Want

Battery City, Zone 2. ???

We still fought the onslaught, but with heavy hearts.  
Poison was fighting tears, but I knew they would spill over at some point, same with Jet. I was glad to be an only chid for once, like Star and Jaded.  
We made our way outside only to run into even more Dracs.  
“Persistent, aren’t they?” Lucifer asked bitterly.  
Damn understatement.

We were close to the van and Party Poison’s beloved Trans-Am.  
My first thought upon seeing the giant spider on the hood was: Frank is scared of spiders.  
I shook my head mentally and redirected my attention on a Scarecrow that was getting away.  
No one else noticed, so I made a dash for it, dodging bullets and bodies.

I turned a corner and came face-to-face with the Scarecrow, who was a head shorter than me.  
I held my blaster up to him and said, “Mind taking off your mask, Frank?”  
A familiar chuckle escaped from the Scarecrow as he pulled off his mask.  
My heart still couldn’t figure out what to do: beat wildly in love or in rage.  
“Why?” I simply asked, trying not to let my voice tremble.  
“Did you really think I was on your side? Honestly, it was almost too easy for me to learn every little detail in the lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and Black Widows,” Frank explained.  
“So, you’ve been a Scarecrow this entire time and you let yourself get shot at multiple times?” This was all unbelievable, but I could pay attention.  
He shrugged and said, “Some things didn’t go as planned. I mean, who could’ve known that you would fall for me?”  
Another blast at my heart.  
“You knew…and you just dragged me along?”  
He gave me the half-smile I used to melt for, but now only froze me.  
“It just made things a lot simpler for me, but there were some other unknown factors. For example, I didn’t plan on getting a laser appendage and I didn’t plan on Lucifer Knight and Show Pony helping you out. The plan was to capture Party Poison, Kobra Kid, and Jet-Star and turn them. Then me and BL/IND were gonna get the rest of you D.G.s,” he continued.  
I felt a smirk form on my lips as I said, “Didn’t work out so well, did it?”  
“Well, we didn’t plan on Mikey and Alexandra getting dusted, but it’s for the better. They weren’t good enough anyway,” Frank replied with a shrug of his slender shoulders for emphasis.  
It pissed me off…  
“We were your friends. We trusted you. You fought Dracs and D.G.s alongside with us. You saved me during crossfire when I got shot. Did you ever once regret what you were doing to us behind our backs?”  
“Do you remember what I said to you the day we met?”  
“You said that you should be dead…”  
“Exactly. I don’t regret anything, but I am aware that I have done enough ghosting to earn me at least three death sentences.”  
His hazel eyes burned into my green eyes.  
A plan started forming in my head.  
I slowly stepped forward and let my face go soft.  
“You know how I feel about you, Frankie. I want to join you and BL/IND. I’m tired of fighting. Let’s just destroy these tumbleweeds and take over the desert.” I was trying to flirt with him. I was never a good flirter-  
“You mean it, crashqueen?” he asked me softly.  
Was it working?  
I ran my right hand over his face and whispered, “Have I ever lied to you?”  
“You’ve never been good at lying, Luna.”  
“Then why ask?” I whispered as I leaned down to kiss him.  
There was no denying that he was good kisser, but it was taking all of my willpower not to shoot him right there.  
His left hand was pushing me back up by my right shoulder. I stood up fully and looked down at him.  
“Something wrong, motorbaby?” I teased.  
“Angle’s wrong,” Frank whispered before wrapping his left arms around my shoulders before pushing himself up on his tiptoes to kiss me.  
He was wrong, the angle was perfect…  
I couldn’t help but smile as I pulled back just enough to see his face.  
“See you in the fiery pits, motorbaby,” I whispered before pressing my ray gun against his chest and pulling the trigger.

His eyes widened in shock before sliding closed.  
I let his body fall at my bare feet.  
I crouched down and grabbed his ray gun before getting up.  
Without looking back, I ran back into the crossfire. All the while, tears fell down my face.


	10. Against the Sun

Battery City, Zone 2. ???

When I got back to the others, I discovered that the crossfire was over.  
“Luna!” I heard Jaded shout as she began running towards me. Star, Jet, Lucifer, Pony, and Poison followed suit.

The first one to reach me was Party Poison.  
“You okay?” he asked me.  
I felt my side sting from the shot Frank gave me earlier, but other wise-  
“Fan-tucking-tastic,” I replied with a bitter smile.  
Poison gave me a smile back before carefully hugging me.  
“We were beginning to wonder where the hell you ran off to,” Star said as Jaded hugged me.  
“Had something to take care of,” I said as I gave Poison a look.  
He gave me an understanding gaze in return.  
“Well, time to get going before the rest of the calvery gets here,” Lucifer said as he headed towards the van.  
“Who rides with who?” Jet asked.  
“I’m riding with Party Poison,” I sated instantly.  
“I’m with Lucifer,” Show Pony said.  
“I’m with him too,” Jaded added as she shuffled closer to Pony.  
Jet-Star looked at Star-Gazer and asked, “Where do you wanna ride?”  
“Honestly, I don’t care,” Star replied.  
“Then it’s off to the van,” Jet said.

Somewhere in Zone 4. ???

The sunset on the horizon was the most beautiful sight I had seen in a really long time. Probably since before the bombs.  
“Where do we go now?” I asked Gerard as I curled up in the passenger seat of the Trans-Am.  
Our hair was whipping in the dusty winds since we let the top down.  
The sky was shining with crystalline stars and midnight blues while the horizon shone gold, fuchsia, violet, crimson, orange, and green.  
“To Dr. Death’s hideout, like we planned,” Gerard replied as he turned on the radio without taking his eyes off the road.  
It was odd riding in the car now with dusty white outfits on and no shoes. I never felt so outta place.  
“I thought Karen was gonna ride with us,” I said.  
“I told her that I didn’t feel the same way she did.” His face looked so serious, that I almost thought it wasn’t Gerard I was looking at.  
“How did she respond?”  
“She looked a little upset, but then she wished me good luck and ran off.”

A Smashing Pumpkins song was playing and it gave me some nostalgic feelings.  
“What did you do before the bombs?” I asked.  
“I was in art school. I saw the bombs go off on my T.V….”  
“Me and Charlotte were celebrating my high school graduation at her house when the bombs went off. We lost a lot of friends that night…”  
The song changed to something unfamiliar and I had to strain to hear it.  
“…Where were you when all the embers fell? I still remember them: covered in ash, covered in glass, covered in all my friends. I still think of the bombs they build-” At that, Gerard turned off the radio.  
“Wait, that was you,” I said as I leaned over to turn the radio back on.  
His right hand stopped me.  
“Why can’t we listen?” I asked in frustration.  
“Because it’s not a good song,” he stated grimly.  
I gave up and leaned back into my seat and stared up at the night sky.  
His eyes never left the road.


	11. 'Til Your Heart Stops Beating

Somewhere in Zone 4. The next morning.

I hadn’t realized I fell asleep until I was shaken awake by Gerard.  
“C’mon Luna, Dr. Death wants to talk to you,” he whispered.  
I opened my eyes to see his familiar weirdo face and said, “Where the hell are we?”  
“My place, motorbaby,” replied an almost familiar voice.  
I sat up and shifted to my left to see a guy in a wheelchair with sunglasses covering his eyes and a bandana wrapped around his head.  
“Hello, sir,” I greeted him.  
“Hello, Luna Queen, welcome to the family,” Dr. D said as he held out his right hand for me to shake.  
“Where are the others?” I asked.  
“The other children are safe. Jaded Darling is with Lucifer Knight and Show Pony. Jet-Star and Star-Gazer are chatting with Blade Noise and a few of your other friends.”  
“You mean the Volta?” I asked in hope. It’s been a while since I saw them…  
“Yes, Lover-Boy, Angel-Face, Song Bird, and Wild Animal are all in there,” Dr. D replied.  
“Where’s that kid?” I asked.  
Dr. D’s face fell before he replied solemnly, “Afraid we lost her in crossfire.”  
Shit, it seemed we were losing everyone-  
“I’m going outside, I’ll see you in a few,” Poison said to me before leaving.

“Now, January, I understand you had to make a very difficult decision,” Dr. Death said after Poison left the room.  
I knew he meant Frank.  
“Yeah…I thought he was one of us,” I said quietly.  
“It’s not your fault that you couldn’t see through his mask. None of us could see through it,” Dr. D told me reassuringly.  
“I loved him…”  
“We all have someone we’d do anything for, I’m sure there’s someone who’d do that for you too. Did you feel like you made the right choice?”  
“I…I did. I was heartbroken to shoot him, but I knew he was a traitor and a Scarecrow, so it was in my duty as it was. Still, I wish it didn’t have to be like that.”  
“How was he acting you ghosted him?”  
“He said that he deserved to die…”  
“Then he felt that you did him a favour. Never regret anything in life because you never know when you’ll get dusted.”  
Words of fucking wisdom.  
“You said that there was someone out there who’d die for me…who were you referring to?”  
Dr. Death gave me a smile and said, “They told me not to tell you. You’ll find out sooner than you think. Now, go see your friends, they’re waitin’ for ya.”  
I nodded my thanks to Dr. D and slipped onto the hardwood floor.  
“By the way, the other D.G.s are planning on raiding BL/IND within the next week, be ready for it, crashqueen,” Dr. D called out to me before I slipped out the door.

“You’re okay!” Song Bird shouted as he bolted out of his seat and nearly tackled me with his hug.  
I started laughing while I patted his electroshock blue hair and said, “Yes, yes, I’m fine. Bullets don’t really faze me anymore.”  
His brother Wild Animal was the next to hg me along with Angel-Face, Lover-Boy, and Blade Noise.  
“So, where do we go from here?” Star asked before taking a swig of vodka from her glass.  
“Well…you can always join us,” Lover-Boy proposed.  
“Yeah, we technically don’t own Zone 5 anymore, do we?” Jet asked as he looked over at Poison.  
Poison shook his head slowly.  
“So, what do you guys do?” Song Bird asked us, his bright eyes widening.  
“You guys can always stay here, the Doctor’s always looking for more recruits,” Blade Noise suggested.  
“Doing what, exactly?” Star asked.  
“Spreading the word, protecting the Zones, and searching for music.” Blade Noise replied.  
“Sounds like fun,” Poison said as he took a sip of water from his glass.  
“What do you think?” I asked Star and Jet.  
Jet looked at Star with loving eyes.  
“I’m tired of fighting. Why don’t we go on a road trip?” she suggested.  
“Where would we go? The bombs wiped out everything. Besides, we’d be leaving everything and everyone we have left behind. Do you really wanna do that?” I asked my long-time friend.  
The look in her blue eyes told em everything.  
“There’s still some places in the Midwest and the East that are still populated…” Blade Noise chimed in nervously.  
“How about a vote?” Poison suggested, “Raise your hand for the road trip.”  
Jet-Star and Star-Gazer simultaneously raised their hands. Party Poison and I didn’t.


	12. 3-2-1

Somewhere in Zone 4. Later that day.

“So…I guess this is goodbye…” I told Charlotte quietly.  
“For now, you never know,” she said with a smile.  
We stood by a car that Lover-Boy and Blade Noise had found and was waiting for its two passengers to get in.  
“Good luck out there and contact us as often as you can,” I said with a shakey voice.  
“Don’t start bitch-crying to me! You know I hate that!”  
I started laughing before quickly giving her a hug.  
“Get off me, hoe!” Charlotte snapped before pushing me away. She was never one for hugs.  
I laughed again. Same old Charlotte…  
“Good luck with Gerard, you’re gonna need it,” Ray told me as he came to stand by Charlotte.  
“Trust me, I know, Toro,” I said with a wicked smile.

Gerard and I watched our friends drive off until there was only a dust cloud remaining.  
“Why did you stay?” he asked me.  
“I should be asking you that.”  
“I stayed because I want to end this war and keep the music alive.”  
“Same goes for me.”  
Gerard looked over at me and said, “I’m really sorry about Frank.”  
I sighed. I knew he’d say that.  
“I’m sorry about Mikey.”  
Gerard nodded.

We were silent for a while as we sat on the wooden front porch of Dr. Death’s house.  
“So, we stay here with Blade Noise and Dr. D?” I asked.  
“Yeah, and continue the alliances we have,” Gerard replied as he shrugged off his leather jacket, revealing that he was wearing a black muscle shirt underneath.  
His arms were pale and tattoo-less.  
“Huh…never seen your arms before,” I commented as I ran a finger on my right hand along his left bicep.  
His arm twitched under the slight touch and I pulled back.  
I looked up into his eyes as he said, “There’s a reason why I didn’t fall for Karen.”  
“And that would be…”  
“I fell for someone else.”  
Hmm…interesting…  
“That song the radio was playing has to do with it. It’s called ‘The Only Hope for Me is You’ and I wrote it for that someone. She is someone who I’d take a bullet for…someone who’d sing with me the words of living…someone I can fight back-to-back with…someone who doesn’t give a shit if I make a few mistakes….someone who doesn’t care that I don’t know a thing about cars and that I have a shitty sense of direction…” Gerard explained as his eyes stared off into deep space.  
It all sounded so poetic…

“I know how you feel…” I whispered.  
He looked at me and I felt that sense of understanding through him.  
“Life is too short to hold back anything,” I added.  
Spending that time with him in the cell, shooting back-to-back during crossfire, riding in the Trans-Am, and today…  
I finally figured out what Dr. Death meant….and I was elated.  
“Your codename may be Party Poison, but you sure as hell aren’t poisonous to me, Gerard,” I teased.  
He cracked a smile and whispered, “But you are my Queen.”  
I felt a warm feeling, almost as warm as his hair was bright.  
“C’mere,” I whispered as I scooted closer to him so that I could wrap my arms around his neck.  
Gerard placed his hands gingerly on the small of my back before gently kissing me.

He was a good kisser, but opposite of Frank in a few ways. Gerard was warm, secure, and soft while Frank had been cold, brutal, and hard.  
I think we all know who was better for me.  
“Do you mean it?” he asked me when we parted.  
I pressed my forehead against his and whispered, “Have I ever lied to you?”  
“You’ve never been a good liar, so I say no.”  
“Then you already know your answer, Way,” I told him.  
“The only hope for me is you and vice versa.”  
“Well said.”

I didn’t know whether this would work between us or not, but I had a very good feeling about it.  
“Let’s go to bed,” I told him as I stood up. I didn’t give a fuck that I was wearing a skirt, I had a boyfriend now.  
Gerard stood up too and said, “We actually have beds now?”  
“Hells yes, and me and you are sharing one tonight.”  
“Are you implying something…?”  
I gave him a sinister smile and asked sweetly, “You know me better than anyone, so do you think I am?”  
Gerard smiled and said, “If I’d guess, I’d say that you are.”  
“Would it appal you if I was?”  
“Not at all.”  
I took his hands in mine and said, “Then let’s go, Party Poison.”  
“After you, Luna Queen.”

Maybe life in post-bombs California wouldn’t stay shitty after all…I still believed in hope, just like I believed in the person lying next to me in this bed.  
“Goodnight, Charlotte, Ray, and Karen,” I whispered, “Goodbye Alexandra, Mikey…Frank. Catch you all on the other side.”  
Then I curled closer to Gerard and fell asleep to the steady, musical rhythm of his heartbeat…

**Author's Note:**

> 1)Title is from "Na Na Na". 2)CO = Commanding Officer (or in this case, the gang leader). 3)Black Widows = the name of Luna's gang. 4) Dr. Death = a radio broadcaster w/ a mysterious identity. Whereabouts & whose side he's on are unknown. He came off to me kinda like Dr. Robert from Across the Universe...oh well. 5) Zone 2= area in which lies Battery City & is notorious for clashes of all sorts. D.G. = Desert Gang (nickname for all teh gangs in Cali 2011-19) Exterminators = see Draculoids & scarecrows. 6) Dusted= killed. Draculoids a masked person who works fpr BL/IND & dusts D.G. members. 7) SIC= Second In Command. 8) Battery City= the unofficail capital of Cali 2011-19. 9)BL/IND = Better Living Industries, an evil organization who is the unanimous ememy of all the D.G.s


End file.
